Subtitle: When Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, He stamped "Valid"
on His entire Messianic ministry and office. But, sadly, most people have never,
ever heard of this wonderful prophecy -- certainly not from our pulpits!

An exciting study of Daniel 9:24-27

The New World Order is coming! Are you ready? Once you understand what
this New World Order really is, and how it is being gradually implemented, you
will be able to see it progressing in your daily news!!

Learn how to protect yourself, your loved ones!

Stand by for insights so startling you will never look at the
news the same way again.

Jesus' statement, above, always intrigued me, because it seemed
so cryptic. While I was growing up and even while I was attending a Christian
college, I believed that Jesus was talking about His time on the cross; after
all, our Lord died very quickly compared to the average crucifixion victim.
Since the word, "hour" is Strong's # 5160 and can mean a very short
time, I believed that Jesus was specifically talking about His "hour"
on the cross, where He would die an innocent bloody death, a sacrifice which
would satisfy the Father's determination to punish sin. Jesus the Perfect paid
the penalty for the sins of all the imperfect human beings in the world, for
all those who would recognize their sin, their helplessness and their need for
Jesus.

Our Christ spoke of this "hour" a number of other times.

"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine
hour is not yet come." -- John 2:4 -- Strong #5610 - any definite
time, point of time, moment

"Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because
his hour was not yet come." - John 7:30 - Strong #5610

"These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple:
and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come." - John
8:20 - Strong #5610

"And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come,
that the Son of man should be glorified." - John 12:23 - Strong #5610

"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
Father, the hour is come..." - John 17:1 -- Strong #5610

As you can see, each time Jesus spoke of His "hour", He used the
Greek word, "ho'-rah", which came to be known as Strongs #5610, and
can mean 1) a certain definite time or season fixed by natural law and returning
with the revolving year; 1a) of the seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn,
winter; 2) the daytime (bounded by the rising and setting of the sun), a day;
3) a twelfth part of the day-time, an hour, (the twelve hours of the day are
reckoned from the rising to the setting of the sun); 4) any definite time, point
of time, moment" (Strong's Greek & Hebrew Dictionary)

Still, my spirit could not get away from the hunch that Jesus meant much more
than a brief period on the cross. And, after studying the prophecies of Daniel,
I came to the abrupt conclusion that Jesus was referring to the fulfillment
of Daniel 9:24-27, where God told the Jewish people to calculate the time so
they would know the exact day in Israel's history when the True Messiah would
present Himself to the Jewish nation as their genuine Messiah, the "Christ"
foretold so often in the Old Testament!

Can you imagine the Grace and Mercy of God, to tell His chosen people the exact
day on which their Messiah would be proclaimed the Jewish Christ? What a privilege
to know this exact day. But, you know the Biblical principle that "to whom
much is given, much shall be required". Jesus had every right to expect
the people would know when He would appear, because He had revealed the precious
secret over 600 years before His birth to a prophet named Daniel.

Let us now study this wonderful prophecy and your faith shall increase dramatically!

The fact that Daniel was a high official of the royal government is highly
significant in our study, because only high government officials or high religious
leaders had access to books. There was no printing press at that time. The three
Wise Men who followed the star were scholars and therefore had access to the
writings of Daniel. Further, the three Wise Men were Magi, which was an order
of the Pagan Medo-Persian religious order of Zoroaster.("Dictionary Of
The Bible, edited by William Smith, The S.S. Scranton Company, Hartford, CT,
1904, p. 501.)

The Magi were ancient interpreters of dreams and were astrologers (monthly
prognosticators). We see them in the Bible in the court of the Babylonian King
Nebuchadnezzar.

Let us now consider this amazing prophecy from the wonderful book of Daniel.

We are going to study the prophecy concerning the timing of the coming of Jesus
Christ, given in unbelievable detail 600 years before Jesus was born.

Daniel 9:24-26, "Seventy weeks of years,
or 490 years are decreed upon your people and upon your holy city Jerusalem,
to finish and put an end to transgression, to seal up and make full the measure
of sin, to purge away and make expiation and reconciliation for sin, and to
bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy and to
anoint a holy of holies. Know, therefore, and understand, that from the going
forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem until the coming
of the anointed one, a prince, shall be seven weeks of years, and sixty-two
weeks of years; it shall be built again with city square and moat, but in troublous
times. And after the 62 weeks of years, shall the anointed one be cut off (killed)
and shall have nothing and no one belonging to and defending Him..."

The remaining one week is found in verse 27, and refers to the last seven years
of earth's history, the period which we know as the "Great Tribulation".

The term "Weeks of Years" was a common Jewish term. It meant literally
seven (7) years. The term comes from God's commandment in Leviticus 25:3-4 to
farm a piece of land for only six years, allowing it to lie fallow for the seventh.
This seven-year period came to be known as a "week of years". Therefore,
Seventy Weeks of Years was 490 Hebrew years.

Note this prophecy contains three parts:

1. 7 Weeks of Years (49 Hebrew Years)

2. 62 Weeks of Years (434 Hebrew Years)

3. 1 Week of Years (7 Hebrew Years)

At the precise point in history when the 7 + 62 Weeks of Years occurred, Israel
could expect Messiah to announce Himself as Messiah. What great news! This means
that Israel could not miss Messiah. All they had to do was to count and be aware
of the prophecy.

Let us now consider the meaning of the prophecy.

I. The Duration of the Prophecy

This prophecy stipulated that Messiah would be presented to Israel and would
be killed after 69 weeks of years had elapsed from the precise starting point.
When we multiply 69 times 7, we understand that the time involved here equals
483 Jewish years. Since the Jewish calendar contains 360 days, we can easily
see that God is talking about 173,880 days. Therefore, we can expect that 173,880
days after the prophecy started, the Messiah would present Himself to Israel
as Messiah-King.

II. The Starting Point of the Prophecy (Daniel
9:25a)

In this verse , God said the prophecy would begin "from the going forth
(the issuing) of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem..." At
the time God gave Daniel this prophecy, Israel was a slave nation under Babylon;
however, God had foretold that this slavery would last only 70 years. This 70-year
period was rapidly coming to a close; indeed, non-Jewish history records that
the Medo-Persian emperor Artaxerxes issued such a decree on March 14, 445 B.C.
Therefore, precisely 173,880 days from this day should bring us to some significant
event in Jesus' life which presented Him to the nation Israel as Messiah.

III. The Mathematics Of The Prophecy

A. The First Seven Weeks (49 Jewish Years)

If you study the book of Nehemiah, you will find the account of the Jewish
pilgrimage to rebuild Jerusalem following King Artaxerxes' decree. The prophet
Nehemiah assumed charge of this rebuilding effort, which was carried out in
such extreme hardship and danger that the builders carried swords with them
as they were building the walls. Thus was fulfilled precisely the prophecy in
verse 25b,"...it shall be built again with city square and moat, but in
troublous times."

This effort began in 445 B.C. and culminated in 396 B.C., exactly 49 years,
just as foretold.

B. The Second Period (62 Weeks of Years, 434
years)

Daniel 9:26 foretells that the "anointed One" would come after this
period and would then be killed. This wording is understood by most conservative
scholars to refer to Jesus Christ, not at His birth, but at His presentation
as the Messiah-Prince. (2) "There were only two events in the life of Christ
when He was officially set apart. One was His baptism and the other was His
triumphal entry into Jerusalem." (3) This latter event has become known
as Palm Sunday. When did Palm Sunday occur? "The Messiah (Jesus) came to
Jerusalem on Passover in the year A.D. 32, which was April 6." (4)

C. The two periods combined (7 + 62 = 69 Weeks
of Years, or 483 Jewish years, or 173,880 days).

* When we count from March 14, 445 B.C. to April 6, 32 A.D., we have 477 years,
24 days. However, we must deduct one year because only one year lapses between
1 B.C. and 1 A.D. This gives us 476 years, 24 days or 173,764 days.

* Then, we must add 119 days to account for the 119 leap years during these
476 years (476 divided by 4). Now, we have 173,883 days.

* However, there is a slight inaccuracy in the Julian calendar when compared
to the solar year. The Royal Observatory in London calculates that a Julian
year is 1/128th of a day longer than the Jewish solar year. When we multiply
476 years times 1/128, we get three days. Subtracting three from our figure
above, we arrive at the 173,880 days. (5)

Therefore, there are exactly 69 Weeks of Years (173,880 days) between the decree
of King Artaxerxes in 445 B.C. to rebuild Jerusalem to Palm Sunday, April 6,
32 A.D.!! God foretold to the day when Messiah would present Himself to Israel
as their Messiah-King. We see this event recorded in Matthew 21:1-11.

Now we come to the next point: God had so wonderfully foretold to Daniel the
exact day on which Messiah was to announce Himself as King.

Jesus fulfilled this prophecy to the day when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey,
while the people proclaimed Him as their Messiah. This event is celebrated each
year as "Palm Sunday". This day was exactly 69 Weeks of Years (173,880
days) since the decree of King Artaxerxes in 445 B.C.! All the Jewish people
had to do is to keep alert and counting, throughout the generations following
Artaxerxes' decree! Had they done this, they would not have missed Jesus as
their Messiah, would not have killed Him, and perhaps, the promises given to
Millennial Israel could have come true right then.

(But, of course, then mankind would not have the FREE gift of eternal life
through Jesus' sacrifice, but that is another story for another day.)

Why Israel's spiritual leaders missed this prophecy, when the "pagan"
Magi did not, is a fitting question. The answer is really quite simple. Several
hundred years before Christ was born, Jewish leaders began to believe and prop-agate
two erroneous teachings. First, they taught that the sacred Scriptures could
not be taken literally because they were not totally inspired by God, and thus
contained errors. Secondly, they taught that prophecies were not to be taken
literally, but spiritually. Prophetic books such as Daniel were not even taught
anymore because they contained so much prophecy. After several generations had
come and gone, each believing this nonsense, spiritual leaders of Jesus' day
were completely unaware of this prophecy. Thus, they were unaware of the "time
of their visitation".

The significance of this study to today is both simple and obvious. The same
wrong teaching concerning inspiration of the Bible and its inerrancy is occurring
throughout this nation. Most people today are unaware that all 300+ prophecies
concerning Jesus' Second Coming are coming to pass or have already occurred.
These people are unaware that this has never occurred before. Therefore, many
people will miss Jesus' Second Visitation, to their eternal peril.

Jesus said emphatically that we who are familiar with Second Coming prophecy
would be able to know that He is close to arriving (Matthew 24:33). Jesus also
told us what kind of attitude we Christians are to have as we see His Second
Coming approaching; in Mark 13:37, He said, "What
I say to you, I say to everybody: Give strict attention, be cautious, active,
alert, and watch!" This means that each of us should be
actively witnessing to our co-workers and friends, we should be very alert to
world events as they are occurring, and we should watch our Scriptures daily
so the Holy Spirit can keep us true to Jesus Christ as we enter this deceiving
time.

We are so very close to the time when Jesus returns for His Church to take
them away from the Great Tribulation. If you are not looking forward with anticipation
to His Rapture maybe it is because you are not truly saved. Get your heart right
with Him today. Are you spiritually ready? Is your family? Are you adequately
protecting your loved ones? This is the reason for this ministry, to enable
you to first understand the peril facing you, and then help you develop strategies
to warn and protect your loved ones. Once
you have been thoroughly trained, you can also use your knowledge as a means
to open the door of discussion with an unsaved person. I have been able to use
it many times, and have seen people come to Jesus Christ as a result. These
perilous times are also a time when we can reach many souls for Jesus Christ,
making an eternal difference.

If you have accepted Jesus Christ
as your personal Savior, but have been very lukewarm in your spiritual walk with
Him, you need to immediately ask Him for forgiveness and for renewal. He will
instantly forgive you, and fill your heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Then,
you need to begin a daily walk of prayer and personal Bible Study.

If
you have never accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, but have come to realize His reality
and the approaching End of the Age, and want to accept His FREE Gift of Eternal
Life, you can also do so now, in the privacy of your home. Once you accept Him
as Savior, you are spiritually Born Again, and are as assured of Heaven as if
you were already there. Then, you can rest assured that the Kingdom of Antichrist
will not touch you spiritually.

If you would like to become
Born Again, turn to our Salvation Page now.

We hope you have been blessed by this ministry, which seeks
to educate and warn people, so that they can see the coming New World Order --
Kingdom of Antichrist -- in their daily news.